WSFCS ‘No Parent Left Behind’ forum set for Thursday

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Administrators with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools are making sure no parent is left behind. The school system will host its annual education conference to address parents’ frequently asked questions.

“Parents really want to know what students will be learning with all that’s going on in our state,” District and Title I Parent Involvement Coordinator Sharon Frazier said.

The No Parent Left Behind forum will talk about Common Core standards, transportation and Title I, among other issues. However, leaders say, parents have been taking notice of one issue in particular.

“Social media has changed things a lot, which is why we’ve focused on cyber-bullying,” Dr. Corliss Thompson-Drew, lead psychologist for the school system, said.

Drew says part of tackling the problem is helping parents identify the tools young people are using to bully others, including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Bullying is no longer just a face-to-face issue, but in many instances it can go viral.

“They will ‘like’ stuff that someone has posted and not see that that’s adding to it and it’s also contributing to it, so there’s that awareness we have to bring to our students,” she said.

Parents are expected to be partners and break the code of silence. On the district’s homepage is a link to a “bully patrol” form where parents and students can report an incident anonymously.

The No Parent Left Behind conference is this Thursday Aug., 14 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Career Center on the Kennedy High School Campus. Parents of students in pre-K through 12th grade are welcome. Free school supplies will be available while they last.